The Night Owls
by a ship nerd
Summary: Rodents living in Zootopia go missing. Judy and Nick are put to the case, but they don't have much to go off of. No leads. Judy, confident at first due to her previous and first case, almost gives up on the case. That is, until someone important to the mystery arrives. It changes everything, and now they must get to the bottom of the mystery, because the Night Owls are on the prowl
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Hmmmm…" Judy Hopps, Zootopia's first rabbit officer, hummed lost deep in thought. The first file she was staring at wasn't proving to be of any help, no matter how hard she willed it to be. She turned to the next one. This one wasn't any better, and neither did the next one, or the one after that, or the one after that, and so on.

She had jumped at the opportunity of a new case, and she thought this would be an easier and simpler case than her first one. What with everything that happened during it.

It wasn't…

Even with Nick Wild, her partner and Zootopia's first fox officer, by her side, plus the intelligence and resources of the entire ZPD she was still no closer to cracking what these strange occurrences and disappearances were supposed to be about.

She took out some more information, thumb-tacked it to the wall, and stepped back. She brought a paw up to her chin as her eyes darted back and forth across the evidence, those eyes kept examining all the facts and photos of whatever evidence the ZPD could find from the different scenes.

She sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. She rose her paw up to her eyes from her chin and her ears drooped. She shook her head, she had been at this for hours, and every time she thought she was getting somewhere it turned into a dead end.

She picked up the remaining case files and turned around not having even the slightest amount of concentration on where she was going. Because of this, she didn't see the fox until they collided.

Files and papers confettied the floor, after all of them settled on the ground, and Judy stood back up, she began to pick up the scattered case files.

"Sorry Carrots," apologized Nick as he bent over and joined Judy in picking up the mess lying all over the floor.

It didn't take very long to do the said activity between the 2 of them. Once all the pieces were reunited with each other, Judy scanned over them, checking to be sure they all were there. They were thankfully.

"What's this all about anyway?" Nick motioned to the files, noting how distracted Judy was being at the moment. This wasn't the care-free, hyperactive, and ready for action Judy Hopps he knew. Something had to be up.

Judy's reply didn't give any answers, not the ones Nick wanted anyway.

"Let's just say, this might be worse than Night Howlers."

Nick spat out his coffee as though it was made of volcano hot sauce. His eyes widened, and shown a mixture of fear and shock, but mostly shock.

"What!?" he exclaimed so hard that Judy almost dropped her files again. His voice carried the same feeling his face had on. He shook his head briefly, and regained his composure before continuing.

"I-I mean, how is it worse?"

"These cases are disappearances, they happen at night, . And I've confirmed for a fact that they are linked by one crucial detail. A calling card so to speak. It is gold coin, flipped on the tail's side hooked to the door of wherever the victim lived. Not to mention that all the targets are rodents. Or at least they were... Recently, cases like this started coming in from other places, with other spices. Snakes, mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, there was even a report about a bunny going missing. Who knows what species might be targeted next."

"Is there anything else they have in common? Something that might give us a lead?" Nick asked hoping that what Judy had explained to him wasn't everything. The good news was it wasn't, the bad news was it wouldn't matter…

Not until it would almost be too late anyway.

"There is one thing… this is one of the coins we found," Judy continued holding up one of the said pieces of gold. "Tell me what you see here."

Nick held his paws up to his chest level, opened, ready to receive the incoming package tossed at him. The package was a gold coin about the size of a half dollar. His paws clutched around the piece of trade currency, and turned it to meet his eyes. He rotated it around, back and forth. He quickly realized what Judy ment.

"A bird face for heads, talons for tails. I'll admit I've never seen this type of coin before, but what does it matter to the case?"

"Take a closer look at it. I've run a bunch of searches about what type of bird it might be. Nothing matched, the face and eyes are too wide for any matches. The talons are also weird, most birds' talons are arranged with three talons at the front, one in the back. This one however, has 2 at the front and 2 at the back. Almost like an X formation."

"Nothing matched this?" Nick asked completely puzzled.

"Nothing," Judy assured sadly.

 **End of chapter 1. This is my first attempt at a Zootopia story. Tell me what you think guys. (If any of you have read some of my other stories you might be aware of the fact that I don't usually like to continue after the first chapter due to the lack in reviews. Same principle here. So… please review. Please!)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

High in the skies above Zootopia, a creature who barely regained his wits flew as fast as his wings could carry him. His mind, still hazy from the flower petals, could only make out the major details of what was happening around him.

His mind could only consciously understand these things at the moment: Dark blue flowers, bad, make you go insane, savage. I stopped eating the petals, I feel better. I feel calmer. My mind is less clouded. I still feel angry, full of rage and savagery. But I can contain it for now. I will contain, I have to. Keep, flying… I stop flying I die… but I don't know why. Why can't I remember…?

At the moment that's all he could think. The effects of the flower were too destructive. He would never be the same, not unless he got _it._ He didn't know what _it_ was, but it would help him. He just knew it.

He shook his head again, for a moment his eyes focused in and out before settling again. He took a deep breath, and flew faster.

Scene transaction

He saw the lights of the city ahead in the distance. The rich glow near the horizon gave him a sign that he was getting close… but at the same time, he knew that wasn't where he needed to go.

When he got closer, he turned and headed along the coastline. He followed it like a trail of breadcrumbs, and kept scanning along it, looking for his target.

There… there it was. A building hanging on the delta of a waterfall.

He had read about this place, and he knew it had what he needed to become himself again.

He lighted down on a platform above the main entrance. Slowly, he went over to the window. He scraped the side of one of his talons against the tip of his beak. Using the talon, he slid it against the glass making a high-pitched noise. When the circle was complete, he tapped the glass and pushed the circle forward.

Luckily it didn't shatter when it hit the ground. He entered the building, and as he did, he realized he was running out of time. Soon that feeling would take over, and he would lose control. Driven by will and determination, he pressed forward.

He quickly ducked under a bench along the wall as a guard approached. He didn't move a muscle until the guard left. He knew it wouldn't be the last time he had to hide from guards, but he was getting closer. He could feel _it._ But he was losing his will, and he was losing focus. He couldn't hold still, and was almost caught by guards 3 times. He knew that he had to find _it_ NOW. If something happened to him 3 times in a short period of time, his luck would run out.

He rounded another curve, and there _it_ was. A room filled with vials, the vials contained what he had come for. The cure to the effects of Mindicandlehoolysimphious. (Goodness I hope I spelt that right) But they were more commonly known as Night Howlers.

He didn't even bother with finding a key to the room, or making another hole like he did at the entrance. He smashed the glass, which sounded alarms all over the building. The alarms carried red flashing lights, and everything else included in that package.

There was no time to worry about it now though, he took a shot, put the needle through the cap, and extracted some of the fluid. When he got enough, he stabbed it into where he knew a major vein was. He pushed every drop into his system, and pulled the needle out.

Guards rounded the corner, tranquilizer guns ready. They had never seen a creature like this before, its body seemed to be covered in a cross between fur, and hair. It outstretched 2 limbs, one on each side, turned them upside-down, leaned forward and let off an ear piercing high-pitched screech. The guards covered their ears, and cowered in fear at the sight of this creature. Despite it being small compared to them, it was terrifying.

The creature took its chance, and headed for the window, smashing the glass before exiting it. As he dropped over the falls, he opened his wings and took back to the sky.

He was free.

He was really free.


End file.
